Chapter 1 The Conclusion

Although all the results were not officially announced until after the finals, the fact that they were out of the league had long been decided. Everyone had been discussing it for a long time, especially since the Jia Shi team, a former dynasty, was one of the teams being eliminated this time. In normal times, the relegation of a team would hardly cause any widespread discussion; only their own fans would be grieving privately.

However, after everything was settled, Jia Shi was not at all low-key in making a statement. With all the love and attention focused on the newly crowned champion, Jia Shi obviously wanted to inject some spirit into their own fans as well.

Tao Xuan, the owner of Jia Shi, personally accepted an interview and stated that although Jia Shi was relegated, it was far from over. Especially after watching this year's finals, he reaffirmed the correctness of his team-building policy from the example of Team Samsara. This is an era that needs stars, and his team possesses a star just like Zhou Zekai.

"Are you referring to Sun Xiang?" The media conducting the interview naturally guessed. Sun Xiang's skills were already at the level of a *dashen* (pro-level player), and he also had a great appearance. He possesses the conditions that Zhou Zekai has, but unlike Zhou Zekai, he isn't a dull gourd. With proper development, his value should be even greater than Zhou Zekai's. From Tao Xuan's words, everyone could tell he was confident in this.

Having had a player like Su Mucheng, Jia Shi was no stranger to developing a player's commercial value. From Tao Xuan's attitude, it was clear that although Su Mucheng was excellent, she was far from being Zhou Zekai in his eyes.

No one objected to this. In the competitive scene, everything is still judged by wins and losses. Beauties are pleasing to the eye, but people gather in this circle for more than just looking at beauties. Zhou Zekai's amazing performances on the field are more likely to ignite the players' enthusiasm. Appearance is merely the icing on the cake. Su Mucheng's popularity is also due to her own considerable strength. If she only had mediocre skills, even if she were stunningly beautiful, it wouldn't be useful. This isn't a place where you can live off your looks. Even if you're hyped as being very strong, your weakness will be exposed immediately on the field and cannot be hidden.

The focus is on performance on the field, as well as the content of the performance. It's like how forwards in soccer always attract more attention than defenders. The content of the performance, the style of play, and the impact of the play further determine a player's popularity. In this regard, Zhou Zekai, with his explosive performance on the field, is undoubtedly outstanding.

In Tao Xuan's eyes, Su Mucheng could never achieve this on the field. Without a major breakthrough on the field, her popularity would remain stagnant, and it would be good if it didn't decline. And Sun Xiang, in his eyes, was a player who could rival Zhou Zekai. Young, energetic on the field, and with a good appearance to boot, he seemed to have unlimited potential. Zhou Zekai's success was like a living example, a shot in the arm that allowed Tao Xuan to confidently face the media and speak eloquently.

Was he praising Samsara's success because he liked the team so much? Of course not. It was simply because this was the best team-building plan in his eyes. Praising Samsara was more importantly to make Jia Shi's supporters understand: Although we were relegated this season, we are developing rapidly on the right path. Look, Samsara, who won the championship this season, is our future model. They have Zhou Zekai, and we have Sun Xiang!

"However, judging from this season's performance, Sun Xiang and Jia Shi don't seem to be adapting to each other very well." The media interviewing him wouldn't just offer praise; they would also be sharp when necessary.

However, Tao Xuan answered this somewhat awkward question with his usual composure. He admitted that there were some issues with Sun Xiang's integration into Jia Shi, otherwise the team wouldn't have been relegated in such a terrible way. But then he once again emphasized that Jia Shi's ambition was to focus on the future, that the past glory was outdated, and that the team needed to turn a new page. As for how to solve the problem of Sun Xiang's integration with Jia Shi, Tao Xuan finally dropped a bombshell: Xiao Shiqin, the captain of Team Thunderclap, an All-Star player, and a tactical mastermind, will transfer to Jia Shi next season.

"I don't think I need to say much about Xiao Shiqin's tactical prowess in Glory, do I? I believe his arrival will definitely allow everyone on Team Jia Shi to be perfectly integrated into a perfect tactical system," Tao Xuan said with confidence.

This was definitely a bombshell.

Although Xiao Shiqin had already given a farewell speech when Thunderclap was eliminated in the playoffs, and Jia Shi was frequently mentioned as a possibility among the many speculations, and with good reason, this was just speculation. Jia Shi was just one of many possibilities. Although it made sense, Jia Shi's relegation this season was a fatal flaw. Would a team playing in the Challenger League be attractive enough to an All-Star player like Xiao Shiqin?

But now, this possibility was being acknowledged by Jia Shi themselves. The Glory Professional Alliance's summer transfer window starts on July 1st and closes on August 31st. It was still June, but the season had ended, and Xiao Shiqin had already issued a statement. Tao Xuan was releasing the news ahead of time, but although it was a bit against the rules, no one would mind.

Tao Xuan was also anxious. The team wouldn't have a league to play in next season, and he was sure to lose a lot of popularity this year. He had to do more to prevent players from losing hope, and announcing the transfer news early was a good move.

Because everyone knew that Xiao Shiqin didn't come to Jia Shi to play in the Challenger League. He was also looking to the future, thinking of sacrificing this one season and then returning strongly to the professional league with Jia Shi to challenge for the championship. Even an All-Star player like Xiao Shiqin was very optimistic about Jia Shi's future. Shouldn't everyone be more patient and look forward to it? That was exactly the message Tao Xuan wanted to convey in secret.

The first transfer news of the summer transfer window was announced ahead of time. This kind of news would be the main source of entertainment for players in the professional scene during the off-season.

After the finals, the last two teams participating in the competition also announced the start of their vacations. But this vacation was only for some people. For the club owners, managers, support staff, and captains, the vacation was not a time to relax.

To prepare for the new season, each team would actively work on player transfers, character transfers, and the ever-present improvement of character equipment, which were the focus of the summer work. Some diligent players might even return to Glory after a short break. Although there were no matches to play during this period, they might delve into the online game to contribute some strength to their club's guild in the area of wild boss hunting.

Ye Xiu was well aware of this situation. However, this was entirely up to the players, and the club would not make any mandatory demands. Currently, among their alliance, the three teams of Yueyun, Zhaohua, and He Wu did not need to play in the playoffs, and their vacations had already begun, but so far, he had not heard of any players willing to use their vacations to help out, which Ye Xiu regretted. This kind of vacation work in the online game was actually a habit of some of the older players. In the early days of the league, professional players were not just responsible for matches. Basic competition such as killing bosses and snatching materials in the game was also something they often participated in.

As for the later new players, after joining the league, they only needed to focus on training and dealing with matches. The various clubs already had dedicated guild studios to take care of things in the online game. As a result, there were fewer and fewer players who could learn from their predecessors and develop the habit of helping out during vacations. The three teams of Yueyun had been on vacation for nearly a month, and no players had this awareness. Ye Xiu felt that there was no need to expect it.

In the new week, under the strong mediation of Blue Brook Guild and Samsara, the fans gradually regained their composure, and the online game returned to calm. The eternal focus of snatching bosses was brought up again, but this time, everyone knew that there was another opponent: the small guild alliance created by *Dashen* Ye Qiu.

Last week, everyone was busy with large-scale fights and had not really dealt with it, but from this week, everyone would face this challenge. The core members of the major guilds were a little uneasy, as the weight of this opponent was extraordinary after all.

In the early hours of Monday, three wild bosses in the Heavenly Domain were refreshed. In the scramble, although the small guild alliance was also present and showed a certain amount of impact, they still failed to capture these three bosses. Knowledgeable people knew that this was because *Dashen* Ye Qiu was not there. The four guilds only relying on their own joint operations were not the same as having a *dashen*.

In the morning of Monday, Ye Xiu and others logged on, and the four guild leaders, including Zhan Loulan, also appeared in high spirits. Although the roles of their guilds could be rotated around the clock, in their group, Ye Xiu was important as a person, not just his role. When Ye Xiu was not online, they could only pray that the bosses would not refresh or refresh less often. Three bosses were refreshed last night, and the four guilds' online managers tried to unite everyone to try it out, but the results were quite tragic. The major guilds had already regarded them as key targets for prevention. And it was unified prevention. At that moment, they seemed as close as a family.

It had to be said that this was Ye Xiu's aggro-drawing attribute at work. After knowing that he was the backer, the major guilds couldn't help but band together, like a conditioned reflex. It wasn't like before when they had to set up a discussion group or something to discuss back and forth.

Now, everyone in the discussion group would come up with a single sentence: "They're here!" This meant that the enemy with Ye Xiu's backing had appeared.

Then another sentence: "Be careful!" Then everyone would band together.

The four guilds joined forces to attack, but didn't get half a benefit last night. The four guild leaders had now adjusted their schedules to be the same as Ye Xiu's. When they logged on in the morning and heard this report, they also sighed: "As expected, a *dashen* is very important. Without a *dashen*, the four of us are not enough!"

Because of the addition of the *dashen*, they became more aggroed and the difficulty of snatching bosses changed from S directly to SSS. This was something they were not aware of.